Kicking off its year-long 25th anniversary celebration, the Richmond County Hospice honored its first-ever Employee of the Year Thursday during a staff meeting.

“This person always has time to answer questions and never feels they are unimportant,” read Executive Director Mary Ellen Shea before announcing the winner, Frankie Long.

“She genuinely cares for patients and coworkers. She’s dependable, friendly, caring, considerate, loyal, dedicated. She’s not just concerned with the job, but each individual person. She has a passion and obviously enjoys what she does. She stands up for what is right, is easy to learn from that a smile goes a long way. She’s one of the most special people I know and love to be around,”

But everyone who knows her calls her “Frankie Doodle.”

The employee of the year was awarded based on all of the 2009 employees of the month.

Long has been a part of Richmond County Hospice since 2001 when she graduated as a registered nurse from Richmond Community College.

Originally from Alexandria, Va., Long has been in Richmond County since her senior year of high school.

She works as an RN and Crisis Care Coordinator, meaning if there’s a hospice family in need at home, Long schedules eight hours of care in a 24-hour period for that family.

Long said she wanted to work at Hospice because she wanted to give back to the community.

“It’s inspiring,” she said. “It’s hard and challenging, but it’s inspiring to think you’re impacting so many lives at the end of their life ... it becomes very personal. I get back as much as I give. We’ve got wonderful families.”

“It’s inspiring to see people’s faith and the transitions they’re going through,” she added. “You really grow with them.”

Long said her own faith is a big help in helping other cope through their grief process.

“It’s a big support because I know the cycle of life and I know this isn’t all there is,” she said.

To those who are going through a hard time, Long just tells them, “to take it one day at a time and allow yourself to grieve.”

Long said work at hospice is about more than just being a nurse.

“It’s very holistic,” she said. “You’re looking at the physical, psychological, spiritual ... you’re looking at all realms of a person’s life and you’re helping them get the most of it.”

And as part of the hospice program, Long’s job is just as much about the families as it is the patients.

“You become a part of them and they become a part of you,” she said. “They don’t forget that and you don’t either.”

Because there is such a connection between hospice staff and their patients and families, the loss of a patient can be just as hard on the staff, but Long said she always tries to stay positive.

“I don’t know how I do it,” she said. “It’s just a gift. It’s something I enjoy doing, because if we can’t be uplifting and positive, we’re not doing any good to each other. A smile can go a long way, it’s a pay it forward type of thing. Everyone has a bad day, but we’ve got to make the best of it.”

Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.